Hose assemblies for conveying fuel and other flammable fluids are well known in the art. These types of hose assemblies are exposed to a variety of fluids, such as fuel mixtures, fuel additives, and chemicals. In many applications, hose assemblies are subjected to physical stresses, such as bending, repeated movement, impact (e.g. by rocks), high internal pressures, internal pressure pulsations, and other forces. In some applications, circumstances may arise where hose assemblies are exposed to flame.
In combustion engines, hose assemblies carry flammable or even explosive fuels such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, compressed and liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas. In motor vehicle applications, circumstances arise where hose assemblies carrying such fuels are exposed to flame. For example, the engine of an automobile may catch fire exposing hose assemblies carrying fuel to flame. In such circumstances, hose assemblies which do not exhibit adequate flame resistance can burn, lose their structural integrity, and fail. When the hose assembly fails, the consequences can be severe, flammable fluid flowing through the hose assembly (often times being pumped by a fuel pump which is still running) can be dumped or even sprayed on the flame which caused the failure “adding fuel to the fire”. In such applications, flame resistant hose assemblies are required.
Flame resistant hose assemblies typically include a core tube formed from polymeric material and one or more layers disposed thereabout. Such multi-layer hoses tend to be overly bulky and lack durability. Further, some such flame resistant hoses provide some initial flame resistance, but can eventually burn, lose their structural integrity, and fail when exposed to flame. As is described above, when flame resistant hoses fail, the fluids flowing therethrough are directly exposed to the flame which caused the failure; thus, exacerbating the flame and fire.
As such, there remains an opportunity to develop a flame resistant hose assembly that is durable (e.g. physical stresses such as stone impacts) and not overly bulky, which exhibits flame resistance for longer periods of time when exposed to flame.